Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi (29 September 1936 – 12 June 2023) was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1994 to 2013; a member of the Senate of the Republic from 2022 until his death in 2023, and previously from March to November 2013; and a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022, and previously from 1999 to 2001. At the time of his death in 2023, he had a net worth of US$6.8 billion according to Forbes, making him the 352nd-richest man in the world and the third-wealthiest person in Italy. Berlusconi rose into the financial elite of Italy in the late 1960s. He was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club AC Milan from 1986 to 2017. He was nicknamed Il Cavaliere ('The Knight') for his Order of Merit for Labour. In 2009, Forbes ranked him 12th in the list of the World's Most Powerful People due to his domination of Italian politics throughout more than 15 years at the head of the centre-right coalition. He was the longest serving post-war prime minister of Italy, and the third-longest-serving since Italian unification, after Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti. He was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from 1994 to 2009, and its successor party The People of Freedom from 2009 to 2013. He led the revived Forza Italia in 2013. On 1 August 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the Supreme Court of Cassation. His four-year prison sentence was confirmed, and he was banned from holding public office for two years. Aged 76, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, and instead served his sentence by doing unpaid community service. Three years of his sentence were automatically pardoned under Italian law; because he had been sentenced to gross imprisonment for more than two years, he was banned from holding legislative office for six years and expelled from the Senate. Berlusconi pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban. After his ban ended, he returned to the Senate after winning a seat in the 2022 Italian general election, then died the following year from complications of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and was given a state funeral. Berlusconi was known for his populist political style and brash personality; his views and rhetoric, often referred to as Berlusconism, have deeply reshaped the Italian political landscape. In his long tenure, he was often accused of being a a strongman. At the height of his power, Berlusconi was the richest person in Italy, owned three of the main TV channels of the country, and indirectly controlled the national broadcasting company RAI through his own government. He was the owner of Italy's biggest publishing company, several newspapers and magazines, and one of the main football clubs in Europe. At the time of his death, The Guardian wrote that Berlusconi "gathered himself more power than was ever wielded by one individual in a Western democracy". Berlusconi remained a controversial figure who divided public opinion and political analysts. Description above from the Wikipedia article Silvio Berlusconi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Silvio Berlusconi war ein italienischer Politiker und Unternehmer. Er war viermal Ministerpräsident Italiens sowie übergangsweise Außen-, Wirtschafts- und Gesundheitsminister. Von 1994 bis 2013 war er Mitglied der italienischen Abgeordnetenkammer.

Silvio Berlusconi, longtemps surnommé il Cavalierea, né le 29 septembre 1936 à Milan, est un homme d'affaires et homme d'État italien, président du Conseil des ministres de 1994 à 1995, de 2001 à 2006 et de 2008 à 2011. Fondateur et dirigeant de la holding financière Fininvest, puis du groupe de communication Mediaset, Silvio Berlusconi est un des hommes les plus riches d'Italie avec une fortune estimée à plusieurs milliards d'euros. Son mouvement politique de centre droit Forza Italia, tout juste créé dans le contexte de l'opération Mains propres, remporte les élections générales de 1994, ce qui lui permet d'être élu député puis, dans la foulée, d'être nommé président du Conseil des ministres. Son gouvernement, fragile, tombe huit mois plus tard, à cause du retrait de la Ligue du Nord de la coalition. En 2001, après la victoire de l'alliance de droite aux élections générales, il est à nouveau appelé à la tête du gouvernement ; il dirige deux gouvernements successifs jusqu'en 2006, lorsqu'il est défait de justesse par la coalition de Romano Prodi. Les élections générales de 2008 lui permettent d'accéder à la présidence du Conseil pour la troisième fois. Il est contraint de quitter ses fonctions fin 2011, sur pression des marchés et de chefs d'État, en pleine crise économique nationale et européenne. À l'issue des élections générales de 2013, la coalition de centre droit qu'il conduit talonne le centre gauche, ce qui rend difficile la formation d'un nouveau gouvernement. Il est déchu de son mandat de sénateur cette même année, à la suite d'une condamnation pour fraude fiscale. Il relance alors Forza Italia, qui avait été dissoute dans Le Peuple de la liberté (PdL) en 2009. Lors des élections générales de 2018, Forza Italia est pour la première fois devancée par la Ligue du Nord. Il est élu député européen en 2019. Troisième chef de gouvernement à la plus grande longévité depuis l'unification de l'Italie en 1861, il détient le record de longévité à la présidence du Conseil sous la République italienne (plus de neuf ans). Il a profondément marqué la vie politique italienne, que ce soit par son style de gouvernement ou par les scandales et mises en cause judiciaires qui ont émaillé son parcours.